Hey
@proedros, I managed to compare my FIBAE 3 to the Katana a couple days ago. Here are my thoughts:
The Katana and the F3 have somewhat similar goals, but they approach neutral and achieve resolution in two different ways. The Katana resolves instruments by accurately portraying their respective sizes and weights in the soundscape; benefitting from an excellent sense of solidity and physicality. The F3, on the other hand, has a wispier and airier presentation, achieving excellent clarity and transparency through sheer speed. Instruments decay much quicker on the F3 - making them seem much lighter and less substantial - but it gets a blacker background and a cleaner stage in return.
The Katana has a bass that's thicker and darker with a slight emphasis on the mid-bass for a more emotional tone. It's a more engaging and involving presentation at the cost of ultimate clarity and precision. The FIBAE 3's bass is light and fast, though it has an addictively musical sub-bass to compensate. Its tone is brighter and can get unnatural with certain mixes, but it layers better than the Katana, due to its drier texture and leaner release. Bass resolution still goes to the Katana because of how solid and physical it is, but the FIBAE 3 wins out on energy and fun.
The FIBAE 3's midrange is more recessed and lean when compared to the Katana. The Katana presents notes with more body and weight, defining instruments with confidence and with a palpable presence. The FIBAE 3 is faster, cleaner and more transparent here, but - as I mentioned earlier - is less three-dimensional in its vocal definition and may lack weight to those who enjoy a thicker and chestier approach to voices. The Katana has an upper-mid peak for clarity, but it is less forgiving as a result. The F3 maintains better linearity in its midrange and is more adaptable to less-capable genres/recordings.
The treble is probably where the two are most different. The Katana employs an upper-mid/lower-treble peak for clarity, then begins its roll-off in the highest registers. By comparison, the F3 has a lift in the upper treble for its clarity and air. The Katana has a clean stage with great clarity, but it isn't the most open of presentations, due to its attenuated uppermost-treble and its forwardly-placed midrange. Notes float more freely in the F3's soundscape, but its upper-treble lift strays its tone further away from natural. The F3 has a decidedly neutral-analytical signature, while the Katana has its toes dipped in
natural as well. The F3 has the more stable stage and the more well-resolved treble, while the Katana employs a more musical and easygoing top-end, but with the lower-treble peak for clarity.
To close, I'd still call the Katana the better-established, well-performing IEM, but the F3 proves mighty competition in this bout, even if they're not the most similar of signatures. The F3 lacks the Katana's bodied definition, but the Katana lacks speed and bass layering when compared to the F3. Although the F3 doesn't kill the Katana by any means - as is the case with the other FIBAE IEMs - it is an exciting precedent for what Custom Art has to offer in the future to answer all the flagships out there in the world that threaten our precious wallets.
